This is a session at Innov8rs Paris, 10 – 12 April 2019

Building Together: When Research Went Viral at Uber

In late 2017, Uber was nearly a year into a complete redesign of its driver-facing mobile app. This case study describes the research program we designed and executed to support the app’s global Beta launch, which specifically aimed to “Build Together” with the involved Beta drivers. With the goal of minimizing the time-space-cognitive distance between Beta drivers and the product team, we deployed researchers in each of our 7 Beta cities for a simultaneous, coordinated 3-week research sprint, during which each researcher used a custom combination of four high-touch ethnographic methods to understand drivers’ reaction to the product. Somewhat unusually, we shared findings with the product team via a novel deliverable: an internal Google+ social media site to which researchers posted a continual stream of raw, unsynthesized “atomic evidence” from research activities. During the sprint, the G+ unexpectedly went viral inside the company, resulting in extremely high engagement with the research, as well as significant product impact and high sentiment from the involved researchers, team members, and Beta drivers. In this case study, we discuss how success in this project came from creating space for others to create, engage with, and act on evidence from the field.

Eduardo Gomez Ruiz

UX Researcher at Uber

Saswati Saha Mitra

UX Research Manager for International Growth at Uber

Eduardo Gomez Ruiz

Experienced UX researcher and Business strategist obsessed in creating user experiences that people love and work for the business. Currently, Eduardo works at Uber leading UX Research in EMEA. Before this he has worked as a Business strategist and Service Designer in two boutique consultancy firms.

Eduardo holds a MEng cum laude degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from IE Business School and he co-authored 5 patents.

Saswati Saha Mitra

Saswati Saha Mitra leads Uber’s Global UX Research team. Spread across 5 continents, her team keeps Uber accountable to its global user base. In her day to day life, she delivers high quality strategic insights to Uber’s Product and Business Leaders, along with building scalable processes that allow anyone in the company to become a user expert. Some of the work her team is proud to own include booking trips for friends and family, adding cash payments and hailing an Uber on the go.

Saswati’s passion for international product development results from conducting research in 25+ countries for some of the world’s most innovative companies – Google, Vodafone, Intel, Nokia, Whirlpool and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to Uber, Saswati worked at Google building Google Search’s Next Billion User roadmap. Her work on poor internet connectivity, users moving away from text-based search to voice and video, and the need for more interest-based daily information, continue to drive the evolution of search today.